U.S. Dept. of Labor Publishes FAQ Guidelines for FFCRA

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U.S. Dept. of Labor Publishes FAQ Guidelines for FFCRA

We recently posted about the U.S. Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), including its most important components, the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Medical Leave Expansion Act. As with most of the major new enactments intended to address COVID-19 issues, there was so little lead time that widespread confusion followed. The U.S. government has provided updates and guidelines to try to clarify the application of the FFCRA.

Most recently, the Department of Labor (DOL) has provided a “FAQ” response with more specific guidance to employers about how to comply with the FFCRA. These are some of the most important takeaways for employers:

  1. The DOL cleared up ambiguity surrounding whether state and local “stay at home” orders are considered a “quarantine or isolation order” for purposes of qualifying for EPSL under the FFCRA. The DOL guidance provides that a quarantine or isolation order includes a broad range of governmental orders including orders that “advise some or all citizens to shelter in place, stay at home, quarantine, or otherwise restrict their own mobility.” However, the government order must be the “but for” cause of the inability to work. An employee subject to one of these orders may not take paid sick leave where the employer does not have work for the employee, such as due to a downturn in business related to COVID-19, because the employee would be unable to work even if he or she were not required to comply with the quarantine or isolation order.
  2. Employees are not entitled to take EPSL or Emergency Family and Medical Leave (EFML) if their employer’s business has been forced to shut down in response to a federal, state or local government directive.
  3. If an employee takes EFML, an employer may require that the employee concurrently use any leave offered under the employer’s policies that would be available for the employee to take to care for his or her child, such as vacation, personal leave, or paid time off. No such provision exists with respect to EPSL.
  4. The DOL also provided additional guidance on the specific factors a small employer, with fewer than 50 employees, must show to receive an exemption from the requirement to provide leave under the FFCRA, when doing so would “jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.”
  5. Employers whose employees are teleworking should bear in mind that they are still required to comply with labor laws. Employees who are teleworking for COVID-19 related reasons must always record, and be compensated for, all hours worked, including overtime.
  6. An employee’s “regular rate of pay” as that phrase is defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act is used to determine the amount an employer must pay an eligible employee who takes EPSL or EFML (after the initial two-week unpaid period). Employers need to ensure they are accurately calculating employees’ regular rate of pay when compensating employees for paid leave.

The DOL’s FAQs, available here, provide needed guidance to help employers interpret and comply with the FFCRA. Conkle, Kremer & Engel attorneys continue to monitor and advise clients about the legal events affecting businesses trying to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Banking and Finance, Beauty Industry, Coronavirus and COVID-19 Regulations, Employment Law, Fashion, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition, Industries Represented, Manufacturing, Real Estate & Construction, Regulatory Compliance, Sales, Technology

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California’s new Paid Sick Leave Law goes into effect July 1, 2015: Are you ready?

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California’s new Paid Sick Leave Law goes into effect July 1, 2015: Are you ready?

Starting July 1, 2015, virtually all California employers – regardless of size – will be required to provide employees with paid sick leave.

The new “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014” (AB 1522), California Labor Code Section 245 et seq., requires that all employees – full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal – who have worked for 30 or more days within a year from the beginning of employment, must be given paid sick leave.

Employees who are providers of in-home support services, and employees of air carriers are excluded from the new law. Also excluded are employees who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that expressly provide for wages, paid sick leave, or hours.

The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act may have been passed with good intentions, but the Act’s complex and seemingly contradictory accrual, carryover and use requirements and broad scope of permitted use has left many employers feeling ill as they prepare for compliance before the July 1, 2015 effective date.

The paid sick leave accrues at the rate of one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. Thus, a full-time employee working 2,080 hours per year can accrue up to 69.3 hours, or 8.67 days, of paid sick leave. However, under the new law, employers can limit an employee’s use of paid sick days to 3 days or 24 hours in each year of employment. And, while the law requires accrued paid sick days to carry over to the following year of employment, an employer has no obligation to allow an employee’s total accrual of paid sick leave to exceed 6 days or 48 hours.

Fortunately, there appears to be a simple solution for employers wishing to avoid the accrual and carryover requirements. An employer can provide employees with 3 paid sick days (24 paid sick hours assuming eight-hour work days) at the beginning of each calendar year, anniversary date of employment or twelve-month basis.

The new paid sick leave law allows employees to use paid sick days for broad purposes, beyond that employee’s medical care. An employee can take paid sick days for the diagnosis, care or treatment of an existing health condition or preventive care of the employee or a family member. In addition, an employee who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking can use paid sick days for specified purposes, including to obtain a restraining order or to obtain services from a domestic violence program.

An employee can take paid sick days either upon oral or written request. The law provides that if the need for paid sick leave is foreseeable, the employee shall provide reasonable advance notification. If the need for paid sick leave is unforeseeable, the employee shall provide notice of the need for the leave as soon as practicable.

California employers will need to take specific action before July 1, 2015 to ensure that they will be fully compliant with the Act on July 1, 2015.

Employers must provide written notice of the new law to all employees. The California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement provides electronic copies of the mandatory workplace postings for employer use on its website.

Employers are also required to provide employees with written notice that sets forth the amount of paid sick leave available, for use on either the employees’ itemized wage statement or in a separate writing provided on the designated pay date with the employees’ payment of wages.

Finally, the Act requires employers to keep for at least three years records documenting the hours worked and paid sick days accrued and used by an employee, and allow the Labor Commissioner to access these records.

Conkle, Kremer & Engel attorneys provide employers with practical guidance and legal expertise to ensure compliance with ever-changing labor laws, including wage and hour issues and successful development and implementation of a sick leave policy that complies with the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014.

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Employment Law

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